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Today's News - January 2, 2007

Here's to a healthy, prosperous, and more peaceful New Year for us all! ----- It's off to a running start with CABE's Festive Five Awards to the "pace-setters for 2007." -- Towering futures with "a renaissance in British high-rise architecture." -- In Edinburgh, "making skylines is an art that's rather been lost." -- King takes on towering plans in San Francisco. -- A look at what was and what could be the best and the worst in London, Detroit, Toronto, and Miami. -- Proposed smart growth fixes to stem suburban sprawl in Miami-Dade County come under fire. -- Will Chicago's Landmark Commission set a precedent that would make "façadectomies" a whole lot easier? -- In Washington, DC, the "compulsion to gum up memorials with unnecessary kiosks, shops and museums only gets worse." -- Boston's ICA is a "sexy new building" that "will remind its owners of their own self-imposed limits on edginess." -- Restored Yale gallery is "a work of cultural courage." -- Two thumbs-up's for Holl projects. -- A "relatively dark" (but not all that dark) conversation with Frank Gehry.

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CABE hails the pace-setters for 2007: ...a Festive Five Award to five individuals...organisations and companies whose forward thinking and high aspirations have resulted in great architecture and design. -- NVB Architects; van Heyningen and Haward Architects; DSDHA; Cazenove Architects; Caruso St. John; Pegasus Architects; David Morley Architects; bptw partnership; Capita Percy Thomas; Allen Tod Architecture; Sjölander da Cruz Architects; Studio E Architects- CABE (Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment, UK)

Skyscrapers spring up in response to rising demand: They sound more like theme park rides than symbols of progress, but towers such as the cheese-grater, the walkie-talkie and the helter-skelter are leading a renaissance in British high-rise architecture.- Guardian (UK)

The sky's the limit: Edinburgh is feeling its way to the future in an unorthodox manner...Do we really want our 21st-century skyline, the representation of our civic identity, to emblematise the 9-5?... "Making skylines is an art that's rather been lost"... -- Colvin Moggridge; Norman Foster; Renzo Piano; Malcolm Fraser- The Scotsman (UK)

Sky's the limit South of Market: 4 of developers' proposed high-rises would be taller than anything else in S.F...tallest towers outside of New York and Chicago... By John King -- Renzo Piano- San Francisco Chronicle

Nothing to lose with lower towers: Design would still be striking but fit in...the look would be stylish as well as steep. So what's the problem? Simple: It's too much of a good thing. By John King -- Renzo Piano; Chong/Partners- San Francisco Chronicle

The death of the glass box? Decoration was back on the agenda, as architects flagged up the old in the new. The bad news first...the realisation of what kind of architectural legacy we can expect from the 2012 Olympic Games. By Ellis Woodman -- Zaha Hadid; HOK Sport; Herzog & de Meuron; Fat; Caruso St John- Telegraph (UK)

Contemporary styles help update look of region: There were more hits than misses this year in metro Detroit's architectural scene. By John Gallagher -- Valerio Dewalt Train Associates; Albert Kahn Associates; Teng & Associates; SmithGroup; Hamilton Anderson Associates [images]- Detroit Free Press

A banner year for building: Year brought critical mass of first-class projects to city accustomed to the second rate. A few more years like 2006 and Torontonians will have to get used to feeling good about architecture. With some exceptions... By Christopher Hume -- MAD; Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg (KPMB); Gehry; Libeskind; Goldsmith Borgal; architectsAlliance/Behnisch Architects; Foster; Montgomery Sisam; NORR; Diamond and Schmitt- Toronto Star

A sense of place emerges: There were iconic buildings and tall towers aplenty, but the year belonged to small statements attempting to stem the tide of sameness. By Lisa Rochon -- Jane Jacobs; Calatrava; David Childs/Skidmore, Owings & Merrill; Hotson Bakker Boniface Haden Architects + Urbanistes; Shore Tilbe Irwin & Partners; Will Alsop; TAG; Jodoin Lamarre et Pratte Associés Architectes; Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg (KPMB); Diamond and Schmitt Architects- Globe and Mail (Canada)

Can James Corner build a beautiful waterfront? Another year, another set of great expectations. Can we solve the waterfront (finally)? -- Field Operations- Globe and Mail (Canada)

2006's most memorable moments in architecture. By Beth Dunlop -- Saving Hialeah; Pelli Clarke Pelli; Rene Gonzalez; Herzog & de Meuron; Richard Heisenbottle- Miami Herald

Growth plan holds line in S. Dade: An ambitious plan intended to serve as a blueprint for development of Miami-Dade County's last frontier would hold the line on suburbia right where it is until at least 2025. ...But the ''smart-growth'' fixes proposed...have come under mounting fire.- Miami Herald

Chicago Landmark Commission Poised to Eviscerate Key Protection for City's Architecture: A proposal on...January 4th agenda raises the question of why...members would vote to set a precedent that would make destroying the city's landmark buildings a whole lot easier. By Lynn Becker -- Philip Maher (1920s); Lucien Lagrange- Repeat (Chicago)

Memorial Advocates Are Sold On the Kiosk: Even before a design has been proposed, there is an upfront admission from the [Dwight D. Eisenhower] memorial's supporters that nothing the architects or planners or designers create will be self-sufficient....This compulsion to gum up memorials with unnecessary kiosks, shops and museums only gets worse. By Philip Kennicott- Washington Post

Museum Sticks Its Neck Out -- but Only So Far: Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA)...this sexy new building on the edge of the water will remind its owners of their own self-imposed limits on edginess. By Philip Kennicott -- Diller Scofidio + Renfro- Washington Post

Kahn's Design Restored in Yale Gallery's $44 Million Overhaul: With so many important works of baby-boomer- era modernism threatened...treating this modest but seminal building like a masterpiece is a work of cultural courage. By James S. Russell -- Polshek Partnership Architects- Bloomberg News

Steven Holl's Latest Design Is Business as Unusual: Swiss Ambassador's Residence...steeped in intellect rather than brimming with emotion. That makes his buildings easier to admire than to love at first sight. By Linda Hales- Washington Post

Steven Holl’s Dark Year Gets Brighter: ...the New York architect, is a seasoned pro who has weathered an array of professional embarrassments over the past year...Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art..."a jaw-dropping 'wow.' " By Julie V. Iovine [images]- New York Times

The Architect: A relatively dark conversation with Frank Gehry..."I don't know why people hire architects and then tell them what to do"- Wall Street Journal

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